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English Learners - Identification and Enrollment

Parental Notification and Involvement

For LEP students who have been enrolled in the LEA since the previous school year, parental notifications must be provided no later than 30 calendar days after the beginning of the school year. LEAs should use the most current information available regarding each student in these notifications (Title III, Section (a)).          

For students enrolling after the beginning of the school year, LEAs must provide the parental notifications within two weeks of a child being placed in a program per Title III 3302(d).

All parents of LEP (Limited English Proficient) students must be notified annually of the student's placement in a language instruction program.

Federal law requires that schools and districts effectively communicate with all parents and guardians. Therefore, all information must be provided in a language that they understand. Schools must be aware that the English proficiency status of a student is not always indicative of a parent’s language skills.

 

Notification to Parents/Option to Waive Services

Parents can opt to not enroll their child in an EL program. Before making this decision which so seriously impacts a child, the parent should be informed of the benefits of EL services and of the potential difficulties that often accompany the lack of EL services. After this information is provided in a language the parent can understand using a review of the placement or annual English language proficiency assessment results, (translated or interpreted, as needed) the parent may choose either to enroll the student in EL services or to waive EL services. If parent decides to waive EL services, the school corporation should keep written documentation of that decision with the parent’s signature and date the decision was made. Parents have the right to opt back into EL services at any time.                                                       

Additionally, a student has the right to receive EL services at the elementary or secondary school in which they would normally attend. Schools districts with a low incidence of English learners may decide to only provide specified EL staff at certain buildings and may request that English learners attend those buildings to receive direct services. However, if a parent chooses not to participate in this model but wishes to receive services at the school in which the student would normally attend, the school district must develop an alternate plan to provide services for this student with designated EL staff.                

When a parent declines participation, the district retains a responsibility to ensure that the student has an equal opportunity to have his or her English language and academic needs met. Districts can meet this obligation in various ways (e.g. adequate training to classroom teachers on second language acquisition; monitoring the educational progress of the student). Students not served by district programs are still required to complete state required assessments and are counted in the district’s progress towards meeting academic and graduation outcomes. http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/qa-ell.html

Federal regulations require the annual assessment of Limited English proficient (LEP) children until they demonstrate proficiency in English. Parents who refuse direct language development services for their child must be aware that:

  1. The student will still be tested until s/he reaches English proficiency (scores at Level 5 on the spring annual English Proficiency test); and
  2. The student will have an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) and will receive appropriate adaptations to classroom instruction and assessments based on the student’s language level in order to ensure student’s meaningful participation and learning in academic subject areas; and
  3. The student will receive appropriate allowed accommodations for Limited English proficient (LEP) students of Levels 1-4 on all standardized testing (ISTEP+, End of Course assessments [ECA], and IREAD-3).

The Refusal of Direct Services Form is a separate document and is used only after:

  1. the parent contacted the school wishing to refuse direct services for the child; and
  2. a conversation/consultation about how language development program will benefit the student has occurred between the parent and EL staff, and the parent’s concerns have been addressed; and
  3. the parent still refuses direct services.

 

Enrollment Procedures

Upon enrollment, a Home Language Survey (HLS) must be administered to all first time enrollees (i.e. Preschool or Kindergarten) or out-of-state transfer students to identify the native language(s) of all students enrolled in the school corporation. This is done by registering staff at the time of enrollment and not thereafter. For students that are transferring from an Indiana school, school staff will contact the previous school to obtain the original HLS. Based on the results of this survey, students will be tested for their level of English proficiency and provided services as needed. If a language other than English is indicated for any of the questions, the student is considered to be a language minority (LM) student.

 

Home Language Survey (HLS)

Home Language Survey Required Questions

  1. What is the native language of the student?
  2. What languages does the student speak most often?
  3. What language does the student speak at home?

 

Migrant Program/Work Survey

CSCSHC is serviced by the Region 3 - Alexandria Migrant Education Resources Center. This organization works collaboratively with our district to provide services (ex. tutoring) and resources (ex. technology) to migrant families who live in our district. Migrant students are defined as children ages 0-21 who move across school district lines for the purpose of seeking qualifying seasonal or temporary agricultural work.

 

WIDA Screener

During the enrollment process, a student may be identified as an Language Minority student based on the Home Language Survey. Once identified, we are required to administer the WIDA Screener to determine their level of English proficiency within 30 days after the beginning of the school year, or within two weeks of enrollment.

More information about the WIDA Screener, including training materials, can be found at www.wida.us

 

Identification of Limited English Proficient Students (LEP)

Identification of LEPs

Important Things to Remember:

  • The English language proficiency placement test is only administered once to a student and should not be repeated every year. The placement test serves only as a screener used to initially identify a student as LEP.
  • Any student that has been identified as LEP will participate each year in the annual English language proficiency assessment. This assessment occurs during a January-February assessment window.
  • An LEP student will continue to take the annual English language proficiency assessment each year until they reach formal exit criteria on the assessment.
  • As many districts move to electronic documentation, it is important to note that a digital HLS should offer the same flexibility to indicate more than one language for any of the three questions. How this is implemented will depend greatly on the district’s online enrollment platform. However, it is recommended that multiple response fields be available for each of the three HLS questions. Additionally, it is vital that all digital records are made available to the receiving district should a student transfer.